Interview
with Winterlong's lead guitarist Thorbjorn Englund by Nicky
Baldrian

Out now on Lion Music is the stunning debut album "Valley Of
The Lost" from Sweden's Winterlong. What is interesting
about this band is that there isn't a single band member over the
age of 25.They play big solid grandiose power metal a'la
Hammerfall, Stratovarius, Yngwie Malmsteen, Blind Guardian and
Manowar and songs such as the amazing "Nosferatu" and
"Written In Blood" will please fans of this genre. I
got together with lead guitarist Thorbjorn Englund and here's
what he had to say..

Hi Thorbjorn I love your album can you our readers all about the
history of Winterlong? Well we
have known each other since the schooldays, and we all grew up in
the ruins of the 80´metal wave. Toni (drums) and myself played
together even before Winterlong. We left the band we were in (as
a matter of fact I was playing bass in that setup) and formed
Winterlong with our long-time friends Hussni (rhythm guitars) and
Erik (bass) who where aiming for the same goal as us, to get
serious in the fight for a career on the metal scene. The years
went on as we practised, performed and recorded It was
tough, but with a 100% devotion to the music that we play, we
managed to finally sign our first and well earned record
contract. And here is where we stand today!

You have just released an excellent new CD on Lion Music, can you
tell me about the songs and how you got together with Lion? A lot of
the material on the "Valley of the lost" is kinda´old,
due to the fact that this is our debut-album. But some songs are
new such as "From heaven to Hell" and "Written in
blood". We did two tracks in the studio as well, the
instrumental opening to "Written in blood" and the last
one "Driven by insanity". We have got to give credit to
Lasse (the president & producer of Lion Music), for the
amazing keys in the end of that one. I think Lion Music is the
right place for a band like us to be, cause they really put their
heart and soul into what they do feels great!

What inspires you musically and spiritually? The songs
are very much influenced by bands such as Blind Guardian, Gamma
Ray and others with a more complex way of structuring the music,
the unique thing though is the "Viking-style
sound"-which is hard to describe, but once you'll listen
you'll understand. There's also a little touch of Manowar, as
well as some neo- classical elements, mainly influenced by Yngwie
Malmsteen. About my choice of notes as a guitar player it's
musicians like Yngwie Malmsteen, Vanessa Mae, Joe Satriani and
Kee Marcello who are the greatest inspiration sources. The
spiritual inspiration however, can strike when you least expect
it it has happened that you got up in the middle of the
night, hearing something in your head, and just got to pick up
the guitar, and
out comes a melody, riff or whatever!

I was surprised by how young you guys are, how old are you all
and have you done anything prior to Winterlong and what made you
put the band together playing this style of music when most bands
your age seem to want to play black and death metal or
alternative indy music? It feels
great to be young in this business, in that way we have a long
future! I just turned 22, so did Erik our bass player. Our singer
Hussni and the drummer Toni are both 20. Prior to Winterlong?
Yes, Toni and me had a band back in the days, we even got to play
as an opening act for John Norum, I think it was in 97´. We
recorded some demos and did a lot of gigs, but since I got to
fiddle with the bass in that band it didn't feel right, so we
teamed up with Hussni and Erik and formed Winterlong together!

Do you think that because your young and fresh that this has
worked to your advantage in the tough music industry? I believe
that you may be one of the youngest bands out there. I really
don't know. It's possible that a lot of people find it
interesting in the sense that we have so much more to offer!
After all, this is our first album, and there's plenty where that
came from!

What's the craziest thing that's happened to you and the band
since you launched your musical career? That's a
tough one. We're quite calm by nature, (the spirit of Kalix,
where we live) so we don't go smashing hotel rooms and things
like that, but a funny thing I can recall was when we did a gig
at a club and some drunk stumbled up the stage to tell us we
where to loud, only to fall on Hussnis guitar set-up that
was quite annoying!

What are your goals in life, both personal and musical? Our goal
has always been to succeed in the fight for our music, whether
it's to become a multimillionaire-star or not, the money is not
the object, it's the music and the passion that drives us! I
can't think of a life without my guitar!
There are thousands of bands trying to make it out there - what
do you think Winterlong have to offer that makes them that more
likely to succeed? We're not
better than anyone else still struggling out there, it's just
that we finally found someone brave enough who believes in us and
our music. The key to succeed I think is to never ever doubt
yourself, no matter what people say and no matter how many times
you're being denied by record labels. Just believe in what you're
doing and be true - then success will come your way sooner or
later.

When you start piecing your songs together, do you go with the
natural flow of what comes out or do you start looking for some
form of inspiration? As I
mentioned before inspiration is the strangest thing. What we
often do is when we're at the rehearsals we all contribute little
pieces to the songs which we kind of "have in store",
whether it's a guitar run, riff, drum fill, vocals, bass or
whatever, those things have all come to us during inspiration,
and then it often turns out to be a very powerful song that you
really like to play! Sure one can come up with an entire song on
it's own to, but then it's not the essence of the whole band.
Why did you decide to become a musician? I've never
decided to become a musician, it has always been natural to me.
Playing guitar and create music is like breathing, without it one
would surely die. I've created music since the age of six when I
got my first keyboard, then I picked up the guitar at 10, and at
age 16 I watched a video with Yngwie Malmsteen and where totally
amazed with what you could do with a guitar, and it was at that
point I decided to really focus on the guitar. Everything was put
aside, and the guitar stuck to my arms for sometimes 8-9 hours a
day!

What's in store for the future? Any live shows planned? At the
present time our drummer is away for a while on a job, but when
he returns we will surely play as much as possible, the only dull
thing is the lack of clubs and gigs in this part of Sweden. Also
in the near future we'll start writing material for the next
album!

Is there anything you would like to say to all the metal fans out
there to help Winterlong's cause? We hope
that people will find our music interesting, and we are hoping to
meet up with our fan base when we're on the road in the future! A
very special thanks to all the Winterlong-fans out there, you're
the best!!!